Chevrolet’s Rob Huff has closed the gap to points leader Yvan Muller with a victory over the Frenchman in the second World Touring Car Championship race of the day at the Slovakiaring this afternoon.
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Huff’s win, his first of the year, moves him past team-mate Alain Menu into second in the driver’s championship, whilst Muller still holds a 26 point advantage at the top of the table.
Italian Stefano D’Aste had started from pole position, but was soon passed by Huff half-way around the opening lap. As Muller followed his team-mate past, D’Aste began to lose positions hand-over-fist and by the end of the opening tour found himself in 15th position.
Huff opened up a small lead over Muller in the opening stages of the race, but was never more than half a second in front of the reigning champion. Alain Menu had initially been running third but on lap four the Swiss driver suffered a front-left puncture that ended his race prematurely.
Menu’s retirement gave Gabriele Tarquini third on the track and the Lukoil driver set about catching the leading Chevrolet duo. However the 2009 champion was unable to find a way past Muller – despite contact on the penultimate lap.
Tom Coronel, who started in 12th after his qualifying difficulties, fought his way through the field to finish in 4th, despite pressure late in the race from Pepe Oriola, who finished fifth. The SEAT driver took the class victory in the Yokohama Trophy to retake the lead from D’Aste.
Hungarian Norbert Michelisz finished in sixth, with Moroccan Mehdi Bennani in seventh. The Proteam driver had been running higher but lost out to Michelisz on the sixth lap.
Alberto Cerqui once again finished in the points in eighth in what is easily the young Italian’s most successful weekend in the WTCC to-date. Darryl O’Young and Tom Chilton completed the points positions inside the top ten.
There was further misery for Team Aon’s James Nash, who was unable to make the start of the race due to the damage incurred to his Ford Focus in race one. Gábor Wéber spun out into the gravel on the second lap of the race in an incident also involving Chilton, D’Aste and Tiago Monteiro.